Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

So...the mince pies are baked, the turkey is ordered, the tree is well and truly up! But CEI Services still haven't stopped working! It's amazing the things you can do in the snow and ice! This was our team last week down in the Midlands working at height at Atotech. They are so pleased with the way we went about our work, and the end results that we hope to secure a long term maintenance contract early in the new year!

As I write our Cumbrian team are hard at work on some groundworks in Workington. Back at the office were eating mince pies, it's even possible some sherry might come out later on! But don't worry we will save some for the workers when they eventually get back!

CEI officially breaks up on Thursday lunchtime but our valued customers know they can depend on us anytime of the day or night so we won't be surprised if we are called out for something or other over the next week or so!

We carried out a fantastic cleaning job in Trafalgar Square, London, a couple of weeks ago. Working there in the dead of night by floodlight was an experience and thankfully it couldn't have gone any better!

We believe our head office is based in the most beautiful county in the UK. On a recent CEI Services afternoon stroll around Buttermere one of our avid photographers captured the image below. How beautiful!!

So until 2011 all that is left to do is wish all our friends, customers, online visitors, suppliers and families a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year!!!

Cockermouth & A Quick Update

It has been another busy week for CEI Services up and down the country and the next few weeks promise more of the same. This week we have been working hard to complete a large cleaning, restoration and painting job in Ireby, Cumbria.

A truly amazing location with stunning views. Unfortunately in Cumbria, in December, open views = COLD & WINDY! So a big thanks to our team who continue to do an amazing job up there despite returning home freezing most days! Almost done and what a tremendous difference. Stay tuned to see some great photos and a full case study of the job will be up on the website within a couple of weeks!!!

We have read with interest an article about Cockermouth in the Guardian today. You can read the article in full by following the link below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/19/cockermouth-floods-one-year-on

It's great to see this type of report in the national press and it backs up what we have said about Cumbria's resourcefulness and resilience! Buy your bags now!

CEI Services have this week secured a facilities management contract up in Cumbria which we are very proud of and a large contract at an equally large factory and office block in the West Midlands. Great news!

Theres a small addition to the Portfolio of Work section of the website this week and much more to follow in the near future!

Finally, if you want to catch a glimpse of the CEI team hard at work then next week head to Trafalgar Square on Thursday....We've got something interesting going on! But thats all were saying! Have a great weekend!

Old Red Sandstone

Well it's Friday again and nearly the end of another month, bringing us closer to the impending festive activities and colder, much colder, weather. Here in Cumbria we are starting to drop below freezing at night and our staff have begun wearing their long johns underneath their waterproofs again (they might not admit it but we know they do!). Down in the Midlands at our sub depot we hear the suns still shining brightly and our Midlands Operations Manager Lee is having a great time! I might put in for a transfer!!

Thankfully we havent lost a single days work due to weather yet. Fingers crossed for more of the same as we have been busy on all fronts over the past 4 weeks. After removing, restoring and refitting some 300 year old sandstone flagstones from a beautiful property in ST Bees, Cumbria, we received the following feedback from the customer:

"I cant thank Chris and his team enough, the service was proffesional and friendly and i was talked through the job at every stage. I had been so undecided what to do with my dining room floor after removing concrete only to discover 300 year old sand flagstones. I had several builders look at the job but most were reluctant to take it on, in case the stone was damaged on lifting and cleaning. Chris and his team didnt hesitate and the completed job was done in three days with minimal damage and my original stone floor is the envy of my neighbours and friends who are also delighted that such a fantatic original feature has been restored. I also want to thank Adele for making sure my house was fit to move into after months of building work, she worked like a trogen and my house was spotless to move into. C.E.I services are superb and they deserve lots of success in the future. Thank you"

You can see more photos and read all about what was involved in the restoration of this beautiful old material by visiting the Portfolio Of Work section at www.ceiservices.co.uk.

CEI Services have just begun the restoration, pressure cleaning and repointing of a stunning red sandstone cottage in Ireby, Cumbria. Our results here should be equally fantastic so please keep checking back to see how the job progresses. Along with the cleaning of the property we are also preparing and painting the fascias, repairing the sturdy oak door and making good the perimiter stone walls which are on the verge of collapse after many years of exposure to the Cumbrian weather, which I mentioned earlier in this post!

In the Midlands we have 2 extremely exciting projects in the negotiation stage which could really see us make our mark down their and establish our reputation as one of the UK's leading professional cleaning and property maintenance companies. Fingers crossed but hush hush for now!!!

As well as the external cleaning and maintenance services we provide we now have a healthy customer bases of provate landlords and nationwide letting agencies such as Belvoir to whom we also provide internal cleaning services. Please feel free to contact us anytime regarding all types of cleaning and property maintenance, we are sure we can help!!! Visit www.ceiservices.co.uk for further information on our range of services.

And finally, because it's Friday and we all love the weekend, we thought we would provide you with a little video to prove just how amazing nature can be! If you've never heard or seen the contents of this video then enjoy and be prepared to be amazed!

On behalf of everyone at CEI Services, pressure cleaning specialists, property maintenance experts; have a fantastic weekend!!!

Email To Councils

Below is an email we sent to around 10 local authorities around Northern England to see if we can try to work together on a simple sign cleaning project which would be beneficial to both the councils and the general public. We will wait and see if any of them decide to respond!! If previous efforts to engage them in constructive conversation is anything to go by I doubt we will even get a polite declining email. We will keep you posted!

Please follow the links below to some articles regarding the state of the road signs in our country. I have attached some photos of signs in Cockermouth, our hometown which we took it upon ourselves to clean because they looked so disgusting.

http://travel.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=151597822

http://www.thewellingtonnews.co.uk/content/new-team-targets-thousands-dirty-and-damaged-road-signs?page=1

Aside from the way filthy, unkept or vandalised road signs reflect badly on our villages, towns and cities, they also pose a serious hazard. Drivers straining to read what a sign says because of the dirt, or unable to read it because of overhanging trees, can and has caused accidents. Surely these 2 reasons alone are enough to make you sit up and want to do something about this issue? Add to this the fact that maintaining the signs themselves in the short term will save you money in the long term and I hope you will be willing to at least consider the contents of the rest of this email?

CEI Services work throughout Cumbria and Northern England in towns, villages and cities so we are able to see that this is a common problem, not just in our hometowns but throughout the country. We would like to help and we realise that this type of spending isn't top priority for councils at the moment however it is vital to retain good standards, even during tough economic times. Tourism, local pride and the safety of the general public are all at stake.

We believe we can work with you to set up reporting systems to log damaged, dirty, vandalised or unreadable signs anywhere in the North of England but particularly in and around Cumbria. We also believe we can work with minimal budgets to ensure these issues are addressed and rectified in a timely and efficient manner as we go about our regular work schedule. We are open to negotiations with regards to how this arrangement could work but we are sure it could be mutually beneficial and most importantly be extremely beneficial to the general public!!!

Graffiti removal & anti graffiti coatings
Pressure cleaning - removal of dirt, traffic film, algae, grime, stains etc
Trimming back tress, hedges, bushes etc which can block signs from view
Repairs - Tightening, straightening etc

These are the main issues with our road signs wherever they may be. Councils do not have the time to deal with this issue properly, that is clear for all to see, so why not let us take care of the issue at a cost that suits us both in a manner that also suits us both.

As a company we have many innovative ideas for councils to save money and to generate revenue but despite numerous letters, emails and phone calls to authorities throughout the North no one seems willing to listen. I hope that you can find a few minutes to engage me regarding this email and how we can improve our local areas together in a cost effective fashion.

Big Society

September has been a great month for CEI Services in terms of the work we have completed but also with changes in the business it has been great to see the team pull together in training and in terms of the work we have had to complete.

It looks like our involvement with flood damaged properties in Cockermouth has finally come to an end, almost 12 months after the floods hit. We think our end results look fantastic but like everyone else in Cumbria we hope to never have to do this type of work again! It has been a tough year for Cumbria and we hope this Winter is much happier and less eventful then the last!

As well as laying block paved driveways, pressure cleaning buildings and driveways, graffiti removal, monument cleaning, internal cleaning, some landscaping and other repairs, we have been working on our secret side quite regularly this month aswell! This is a side to our pressure cleaning business we are unable to discuss in any specific detail however we are working with some of the biggest names in the WORLD all over the UK and hope to continue doing so for many years to come! Send us an email and we might tell you more! Then again we might not!

Finally we have watched with interest for more details of David Camerons big society to materialise. We hope that it will put an end to centralised services so that councils are given the freedom (or are forced) to choose the best priced local contractor for a particular job. Small to medium businesses in this country would be boosted enormously by securing work from their local authorities. A lot needs to change before this happens however and to me there is still nothing firmly in places to really help us! You can visit http://www.thebigsociety.co.uk/ to keep upto date with developments and put your ideas forward. We have recently submitted a few of our own innovative ideas/suggestions and we wait with baited breath to see if we get a response!

Finally, you might remember Lee Parr has become our Operations Manager for the Midlands; and our move down the country has proved fruitful already securing some high profile industrial cleaning and painting in December. A big welcome to Lee, we hope he continues his positive start for many years to come!!

Power Washing New York Style and CEI News

Take a look at this fantastic photo of a pressure cleaning company in New York getting high and dirty in Manhattan, New York City. Having spent quite a lot of time in the USA the CEI team is envious of this cleaning companies potential future work, as a large percentage of the cities buildings are in the condition of the left side of this photo! If New York decides to really clean itself up then we may have to think about immigration!

CEI Services planned expansion has gone well and we now have an established base in the Midlands with our Midland Operations Manager Lee Parr very proud and excited about the potential ahead. A big congratulations to him on securing the role and on behalf of everyone at CEI Services, we wish him all the best for the future!

We are now ideally positioned to service current and new clients throughout the whole of the UK on a contractual or one off basis. We hope to be able to provide our customers with added value for money, quicker response times and of course we hope to reduce fuel costs which is good for us and the environment!

Would you believe we are still working on restoring flood damaged houses in Cockermouth? Thats right, approaching10 months on from the awful floods the town is still very much recovering although it appears as if it will bounce back stronger than ever! The Cumbrian way! We are helping to restore block paved driveways, patio's, decking which all had to be ripped up and relayed after the floods tore through.

We have also recently completed a lovely job in Liverpool on a terraced house. The job involved pressure cleaning the building, preparing some surfaces for painting, relaying some external floor tiles, capping the perimiter brick wall with decorative bricks and painting the perimiter walls and the window sills and columns. The property looks fantastic and there will soon be a short case study from the job available to view at http://www.ceiservices.co.uk/ but for now, here's what the owner had to say about our work:

"CEI made every attempt to meet our needs and were excellent not only in the standard of the final completion of the job they undertook, but also in the positive and responsive manner they conducted supportive communication from 3,500 miles for us here living overseas. A very professional outfit that give high quality value for your money. We would have no hesitation re-hiring them again for similar work."

Always nice to hear positive feedback and we are very glad he and his wife were happy with the end results!

Pacific Garbage Patch

The Pacific Garbage Patch is the worlds largest rubbish dump, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger every hour of every day. Some of the plastic which has formed a soup throughout the water column has taken many years to arrive here and is bought in by currents. Scientists extimate it to cover an area somewhere between the size of Texas and, wait for it, the USA. It is a mammoth issue which no government will ever address due it's depth and location. Do we just have to accept then that vast areas of our oceans (the Atlantic has a similar issue) are just going to become more and more polluted and contaminated?

It seems so....

Please take a few minutes to look at the video below which tells you all about this shocking man made plastic soup in the middle of our Pacific Ocean.




Raising awareness of this tragedy is all we can do at the moment, it is surprising how many people have no idea it exists!!!

Exciting New Developments

CEI Services are pleased to announce that we are expanding! Thats right, at the beginning of August we will be opening our sub depot in the Midlands, Tamworth to be precise!

Keep coming back for much more news on this exciting development and other CEI related goings on over the next couple of weeks!

CEI Secures High Profile Work For The Summer

Well with our campaign to see the railway bridge back to its former glory well and truly successful (apart from the fact the council are doing it and not us!) we feel optimistic about the year ahead and with this great weather we feel a busy Summer coming on! We hope our successful Summer coincides with Englands fortunes improving in South Africa! Back the beard and lets bring it home, the World Cup that is, not the beards!!

CEI will be working at one of Northern Englands largest Jaguar Car Garages over the coming weeks, this is the latest work within one of the largest car groups in Cumbria and we can only put our continued relationship down to our cost effective, high quality end results along with our ability to work flexibly to minimise disruption to their clients! We also have some work with various McDonalds restaurants coming up, school summer improvements programmes to assist with and a whole bunch of jobs we love doing and are very proud of but are just unable to discuss with anyone, sorry!!!

Railway Bridge Update

Although the council did not reply directly to our generous email and offer to clean up and manage the vandalism on the bridge as detailed in the last post, the local newspapers and residents were interested and there was an article in last weeks times and star - part of this article can be read by following the link below!

http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/appeal-to-clean-up-cockermouth-eyesore-footpath-1.716453?referrerPath=home/2.1681

The council comment says they are going to get the bridge back into shape which is fantastic news for everyone in Cockermouth although CEI's offer could possibly have seen the work getting done at no expense to the council or the taxpayer! I have sent a follow up email to the council to ask why they didnt see any point in replying to us so I guess we will wait and see what comes back. If anything!

The main point of the fuss was to get the bridge clean and if that happens then it has all been worth it!

Cockermouth Railway Bridge

CEI Services staff and hundreds, if not thousands of Cockermouth residents use the railway bridge to access the town, the park and many other locations. It is a busy, high footfall area that looked completely different 5 years ago to how it looks now!

It used to be a place people could stop to admire the beautiful views up and down the river, have a picnic or pick berries. It is now fairly disgusting with shocking levels of graffiti and vandalism causing some people to stop using it altogether for fear of who they may encounter as they walk over it. As well as the graffiti it is overgrown with moss and weeds and generally covered in dirt and mud. All the metalwork needs also needs repainting!!

Having approached our local council with a plan of action for this area we await their response! I fear we may wait for some time though so thankfully the local press arranged to meet some residents who are particularly bothered by the areas current condition, so they could run a story in this weeks papers. Check out the article, it should be out in this Fridays local press!

CEI have proposed to work with the council to ensure the area is restored cost effectively and managed properly in the future, we want this area to be restored we are not interested in making lots of money from doing so. We have offered to use our graffiti and vandalism management experience free of charge for 6 months to prove to the council that the area doesnt have to be neglected for years then cleaned, then neglected etc etc. We are extremely confident we can make it a place to be proud of once again! We have even suggested to the council innovative ways in which we can fund the works! I hope they listen and at least speak to us about it. Most of all we hope the area gets cleaned up and we don't mind who ends up doing it really!

As you can see from our photos the area is in a real mess! Contact the council and share your view, it could help to get the issue sorted sooner!

Cleaning and Maintaining Indian Sandstone

This is probably a surface that a lot of you recognise, Indian Sandstone. It tends to age and get dirty quite quickly, and to a lot of people this is the look they are going for when they decide to lay it on their property.

However many people are pleasantly surprised when they see the results we can achieve on this surface. This small section has been high pressure cleaned, dried and coated with a protective sealant to create this great finish, protect it from the elements and prolong it's lifespan. You can see more examples of how we treat all surfaces differently and the outstanding results we achieve at our website http://www.ceiservices.co.uk/

CEI Using Natural Resources

The CEI Services family is packed full with talented, creative people and in the past few days we have come up with something which we hope will work out well so we can use it on a bigger scale in the future to promote ourselves. CEI Services is very focused on the environment, we are already working on ways to improve equipment efficiency and ways to use more recycled water on our jobs. We monitor our carbon footprint and take all measures to reduce it where possible. We are also investigating alternatives to using water, which are currently very expensive but hopefully in the coming months and years will become more affordable. The photos below show one of the methods we are going to use to try to promote ourselves using moss! We mix moss with some secret ingredients to form a kind of paste:
We then use recycled cardboard to make a stencil, in this case simply CEI, and paint on our mixture to leave what at first looks like a pile of mud, but what in time will turn back into vibrant green moss and look stunning in it's natural surroundings.

These photos are all taken within a couple of days of the moss being applied to the surface so please keep checking back to see the progress of the lettering. You will soon see efforts on a much larger scale!!!

McDonalds Restaurants

CEI Services has been working with various Mcdonalds restaurants for the past couple of years but recently we have been quoting at more restaurants than ever. We have now formed great working relationships with several managers who really are great people. They want an outstanding first impression to be created for their customers and as we are big on 1st impressions here at CEI we feel we can exceed their expectations. We now have contracts and regular cleans of many locations throughout Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire and as we are able to offer tailored services and "special" McDonalds rates we hope this is a business relationship that will just keep on growing! As a lot of the restaurants are similar in their layout and size we know exactly how to approach each job to produce the best results!

Chewing gum removal, graffiti removal,application of anti graffiti coatings, building and roof cleaning, painting works, car park and drive thru cleaning, hygiene and sanitation services and some minor repairs are a selection of the services we have provided McDonalds outlets throughout Northern England. We are proud of our work with this client and hope it continues to develop for many years to come!

Councils and local authorities

CEI Services has worked hard to build up our reputation both locally and nationally and as you can see by the types of businesses we regularly work with, HSBC, McDonalds, Lloyds Motor Group and Iceland we have a right to be proud of our work and our end results. The one issue that mystifies us is the lack of support we receive from our local authorities with regards to giving out work to local businesses. We feel it shows a lack of support for exactly the type of people and businesses the council should be encouraging! We have approached authorities throughout Cumbria periodically for the past 2-3 years and have made relatively very little progress. We even approached Allerdale with an extremely cost effective plan to rid our entire borough of graffiti within 18 months. After documenting literally hundreds of graffiti images taken in and around Workington and Cockermouth we took the images and a plan of action to the council. In fact we sent the information to several different managers and senior officials, and we didnt even get a single response!



The limited work we have completed for councils and parish councils has produced outstanding results and repeat business so we know we can satisfy the demands placed upon us in terms of health and safety and end results. We are proud to be based in Cumbria and would love to be given the opportunity to improve the look of more public areas. To read about the large monument cleaning and restoration projects we have undertaken for parish councils please visit www.ceiservices.co.uk.

CEI Services Donates Money To Cockermouth Flood Victims

As mentioned earlier on in this blog, CEI Services Company Secretary Kate Archer, CEI staff and friends managed to raise £350 at Kates 60th birthday party. We all wanted this money to go to those most affected by the floods last year. We contacted the flood fund and several local organisations as we wanted our money to go directly to someone who needed it, but had little or no response. We even took out an advert in the paper offering the money and our flood restoration services free of charge to someone or to a family in need. Still we had no response. This says a lot about the way our community has pulled together in these hard times, free money, free restoration services, no takers!

Kate began working at one of the drop in centres in the centre of Cockermouth set up to offer care and advice to those who need it and in doing this she soon started to meet plenty of people who would gratefully receive what we were offering. After several encounters with Mr and Mrs Casson, Cockermouth residents whose home and lives had been disrupted by the floods, Kate decided to give the cheque to them so that they could get away from it all for a few days or put it towards whatever they need the most.

It is a pleasure to be able to help and our offer of free flood restoration assistance still stands, we are involved in several small projects in and around Cockermouth, working with insurance companies and local businesses. It is incredible to see the way our small town has pulled together and I think we can all now see genuine progress being made both on the Main Street and int he surrounding areas.

CEI Services' First YouTube Foray!

http://www.ceiservices.co.uk/page_1269513961151.html take a look at the new dedicated graffiti removal page on our website

Visit www.ceiservices.co.uk and take a look at our new dedicated graffiti removal section. As graffiti removal is one area of speciality we wanted to try and let people know the extent and diversity of the clients and types of work we have completed. We are proud to have worked with some of Britains largest companies removing graffiti and applying anti graffiti coatings.

Mayo Statue

CEI Services have cleaned and restored the Mayo Statue on the Main Street of our home town, Cockermouth. The results have drawn praise from the Town Council and the general public. It is nice to have been able to make a positive visual impact in an area which is very much recovering from the floods at the end of last year. As a goodwill gesture, CEI Services have offered to clean the statue again free of charge when Main Street officially reopens. We take pride in being based in Cockermouth and we appreciate the hard work and effort of everyone who has contributed to Cockermouth getting back on it's feet. We feel, as do many other business owners and tradesmen, that Cockermouth will come back stronger than before the floods! CEI are here to help ensure that happens!

The Cove Support this fantastic cause

Hard At Work On Lancaster Universitys Ruskin Library in 2009.

Visit http://www.ceiservices.co.uk/page_1257432708363.html to find out more about this project and some of the other projects CEI Services have been involved in!

Cockermouth Floods

Cockermouth Flood News (Transferred from www.ceiservices.co.uk)
Everyone at CEI Services would like to express our deepest sympathy to all those affected by the floods. Being such a close knit town we all know many people whose lives are being turned upside down by these dreadful events. CEI is based in Cockermouth and wants to help our fellow residents. We have offered assistance to the local authorities and will continue to do so until they have completed the rescue and relocation mission.
We want to help Cockermouths residents, not just today but over the coming weeks, months and years.

Please feel free to Contact CEI Services with any flood clean up related issues and we will either point you in the right direction or try our best to help.

Please always try to use your local contractors. We will always be here and will be keen to support the recovery of your lives and businesses once the drying and re-building work is complete.

Please use the number below for all emergency issues:

The council has an emergency 24 hour hotline number for any enquiries relating to flooding incidents in the borough. Anyone seeking advice or information on issues such as requests for sandbags should call 01900 871080.
A charity donation page has been set up by The Cumbria Foundation for donations – Alternatively you can send a cheque made out to Cumbria Community Foundation to: Cumbria Community Foundation, Dovenby Hall, Cockermouth CA13 0PN. Please write on the back ‘Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund’.

How Are CEI Services Involved

20th-24th November 2009 - CEI Services has offered it's full support to Allerdale Council and to the staff at The Sheep & Wool Centre and Eco Centre. We have also made it known that we may be in a position to help uninsured and vulnerable residents.

25th November 2009 - CEI Services has started flood cleaning and disinfecting works on Main Street. We are working on King Arms Lane and are hoping to help restore some normailty and hygiene to this area within the next 5 days. We started by unblocking the drainage system running the length of the lane as it was completely blocked with silt, sewerage and mud amongst other things. Our next challenge is to work with business owners and other contractors to ensure we clean and sanitise the area efficiently and with as little disruption to their jobs as possible.

27th November 2009 - CEI Services has teamed up with Mark Grisedale Building Services to enable us to offer Cumbrians a complete flood restoration package. CEI deals with stage 1 - emptying the property, cleaning silt and mud from surfaces, stripping, decontaminating and finally drying out. Mark, whose company is a member of the Federation Of Master Builders, then arranges for his teams to start work on all aspects of the properties restoration.

28th November 2009 - At CEI Company Secretary Kate Archers 60th birthday party CEI staff, friends and family managed to raise more than £350.00. CEI Services would like to offer this money and our services free of charge to someone who really needs it. We have contacted the council, Times and Star and Cumbria Flood Foundation trying to find a suitable person but have had o response so far. If you know someone who genuinely needs our help, perhaps they couldn't afford the huge excess on their insurance, we would love to help them out and try to make Christmas a little easier for them!

30th November 2009 - CEI Services is now working alongside Mark Grisedale and his teams on various flood restoration projects throughout Cockermouth and surrounding villages.

5th December - Ongoing - Despite offers from CEI Services to help the victims of the floods we have heard no response. We continue to work on decontamination projects throughout West Cumbria. We have money and a team ready to help, Contact CEI Services if you need us or know someone who could benefit from some free assistance!